Greek Pesto Pasta Salad

The jars. So many jars. Jars in the fridge. Jars in the pantry. Jars in the spice cabinet. It was time to do a little pantry re-organization to reassess what was left for the pantry challenge. The answer? All the ingredients needed to make an awesome pasta salad. I found some pasta that I had picked up from the Whole Foods bulk bins that I think was intended for soup. There was a rest of a bag of pine nuts purchased for making pesto. A half a bag of sun-dried tomatoes. You see where I’m going here. It got even worse when I went in the fridge. Leftover kalamata olives, jarred pesto, more sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese. Everything was opened, half used, and ripe for this salad. I even grabbed the half bag of frozen artichoke hearts out of the freezer. The result? Quite possibly my new favorite pasta salad. The salty olives contrasted with the nutty pine nuts. The pesto gave everything a pop without overtaking the individual flavors. The sun dried tomatoes added a freshness to the dish, and the feta soaked up all those awesome flavors and added a creaminess to the dish. It’s worth picking up the six jars to make this for a picnic dinner on a hot day.

Cook the pasta to al dente. Rinse it with cold water and add it to a large bowl. Immediately add in a heaping spoonful of pesto. Stir to combine. This step ensures that your pasta will be lightly coated with the pesto and that the other more ridgy ingredients don’t steal all of the deliciousness.

Next, roughly chop the artichoke hearts and add those to the pasta.

Sundried tomatoes are next.

Followed by toasted pine nuts.

Next I added in halved kalamata olives and the rest of the pesto. Season with pepper and give everything a stir.

Add in feta cheese, stir one more time and then let the salad sit for at least 20 minutes so the flavors have a chance to meld. Enjoy, both the salad and the space you’ve made in your pantry.